se me--you forget that my mother----"

"Your mother has only known me for a week."

An expression of intense surprise appeared on the lieutenant's face. "Is
it possible?" he murmured.

"Your father has met me five or six times at the table of the Count
de Chalusse, who was his friend--but what does he know of me?" resumed
Mademoiselle Marguerite. "That I came to the Hotel de Chalusse a year
ago, and that the count treated me like a daughter--that is all! Who I
am, where I was reared, and how, and what my past life has been, these
are matters that M. de Fondege knows nothing whatever about."

"My parents told me that you were the daughter of the Count de Chalusse,
mademoiselle."

"What proof have they of it? They ought to have told you that I was an
unfortunate foundling, with no other name than that of Marguerite."

"Oh!"

"They ought to have told you that I am poor, very poor, and that I
should probably have been reduced to the necessity of toiling for my
daily bread, if it had not been for them."

An incredulous smile curved the lieutenant's lips. He fancied that
Mademoiselle Marguerite only wished to prove his disinterestedness, and
this thought restored his assurance. "Perhaps you are exaggerating a
little, mademoiselle," he replied.

"I am not exaggerating--I possess but ten thousand francs in the
world--I swear it by all that I hold sacred."

"That would not even be the dowry required of an officer's wife by law,"
muttered the lieutenant.

Was his incredulity sincere or affected? What had his parents really
told him? Had they confided everything to him, and was he their
accomplice? or had they told him nothing? All these questions flashed
rapidly through Marguerite's mind. "You suppose that I am rich,
monsieur," she resumed at last. "I understand that only too well. If I
was, you ought to shun me as you would shun a criminal, for I could only
be wealthy through a crime."

"Mademoiselle----"

"Yes, through a crime. After M. de Chalusse's death, two million francs
that had been placed in his escritoire for safe keeping, could not be
found. Who stole the money? I myself have been accused of the theft.
Your father must have told you of this, as well as of the cloud of
suspicion that is still hanging over me."

She paused, for the lieutenant had become whiter than his shirt. "Good
God!" he exclaimed in a tone of horror, as if a terrible light had
suddenly broken upon his mind. He made a movement as if